BENGALURU: A 27-year-old rape survivor from Bengaluru, who went to the extent of trying to kill herself, pulled herself out of depression, gathered enough courage to track her abuser, who had fled to Mumbai, forced a reluctant Mumbai police to register a zero FIR (as the incident had taken place in Bengaluru) and, in a fitting gift for the Valentine’s Day, got him arrested in Bengaluru on February 12.
The rape survivor, Aparna (name changed), who was raped, cheated, threatened and harassed by her boyfriend, got him arrested after a prolonged struggle of four months, involving two state police forces.
The accused, Jatin Chhabria (27), an IT professional, is now cooling his heels at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail and has been slapped with a case with Sections 376 (Rape), 420 (cheating), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) of the IPC by the Mico Layout police. Jatin, who hails from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, was living in Southeast Bengaluru for the last eight years before moving to Mumbai through internal transfer. Aparna met Jatin through a common friend in the city in August 2015. Without a clue of what lay ahead of her, she fell in love with him.
“Jatin was always trying to get physical with me, but I resisted his attempts. During one of the get-togethers that I had organised, Jatin sedated my drink and raped me. I woke up with a lot of pain in my abdomen the next day, and realised that I had been raped. When I berated him for what he did, he said that he resorted to rape, as I wasn’t allowing him to get near me,” she told Deccan Chronicle.
“Things went worse from there. Jatin had told me that he would marry me, but moved Mumbai seeking an internal transfer. When I learnt about it, I attempted suicide and I was admitted to a hospital. But no police case was filed as Jatin convinced my mother to withdraw the complaint on August 15, 2015. While I was battling for my life, Jatin managed to move out of Bengaluru,” she said.
Tossed between 2 state police forces
Aparna decided to teach Jatin a lesson and tracked him down in Mumbai. She approached the closest police station in Samta Nagar to register a zero FIR.
“I went to the police station along with my parents on November 5 2015. But the Station House Officer refused to accept the complaint saying the incident occurred in Bengaluru. After a long ordeal, I convinced the SHO to register the complaint for inquiry as he was not ready to file the FIR. For the next 15 days, I was at the police station every day. Finally, my abuser was summoned to the police station, and I too was called,” she said.
Jatin’s family offered Aparna a monetary compensation, but she rejected it. She told them that she wanted justice and the perpetrator punished. After numerous visits and continuous telephone calls, the zero FIR was registered on December 19, 2015. Even as she was running around to get the FIR registered, Jatin sent Aparna a threat message and the police registered a case against him. But there were more problems in store for Aparna in Bengaluru as the Mico Layout had not heard of zero FIR.
“After the FIR was sent to the Bengaluru DCP from the Mumbai DCP, I received a call from a police officer of MICO Layout police station enquiring about the case. I gave him the details, but was shocked to learn that he did not know about zero FIR. He told me that he needs to take a fresh complaint in Bengaluru and that I have to be present at the police station,” Aparna said.
The Bengaluru police also returned the complaint from the Mumbai police, saying it wasn’t sent through proper channels. After a struggle of over one week, Aparna approached the DG, Maharashtra on January 14, 2016. She called the DG’s office, took her case details, sought the reference number and pushed her file to the Karnataka DG on January 18, 2016.
City police help victim
When Aparna called the Additional DG’s office, Bengaluru, on January 29, she learnt that her case file was gathering dust at the officers’ chambers since January 19.
Disappointed at their functioning, Aparna wrote a mail to the Karnataka DG and police commissioner about the delay. “After a long wait, I got a reply from the commissioner’s personal assistant, who asked me to contact the DG’s office as the file was delayed. After making multiple calls every day, the case file reached the commissioner’s office on February 1, 2016. I called the police commissioner and told him about the delay. The top officer took note of the issue and directed Aparna to meet the Southeast DCP, Dr. H M Boralingaiah.
“I spoke to the DCP and I was satisfied with the way the senior police officer helped me. I requested him to take action on the case as it was getting delayed and kept in touch with him regularly. Finally, the case file reached Mico Layout police station on February 10 and an FIR was registered on February 11 under Sections 376, 420, 328 and 354 of the IPC. After a struggle of four long months, sleepless nights and running from one office to another, my struggle paid off and I have managed to get my tormentor behind the bars.”
